Despite an impressive performance that saw the Utah native submit a tough Kris McCray (5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the second round of their main-event matchup at The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale in Las Vegas, McGee says the bout unfolded entirely different than he had envisioned in his mind.

Yet the net result proved another vision true – the one he remembers as vividly as his son’s face.

“Just before I left (to start filming ‘TUF 11′), I was sitting in my bathtub with my son, just visualizing me standing there with the trophy,” McGee told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) following his win. “I was kind of like, ‘No, man – there’s no way.’ I’ve got a picture of it. My son is just sitting there staring at me right in the face.

“I remember just sitting there thinking of holding the trophy. It was just a thought, and that was the first thing I thought of when I held that trophy, man. It’s a pretty powerful thing.”

McGee’s underdog story is beyond remarkable. A former drug addict who was once declared clinically dead, McGee has battled throughout his life. A rough childhood was replaced by struggles as an adult, and the new “TUF” champion needed a bit of good fortune prior to even making it on to the Spike TV-broadcast series.

“I didn’t have any money,” McGee said. “I was making within $100 of what I was spending a month. I have a wife and a son. I live in a little three-bedroom apartment right behind the gym. I moved there on a whim. I taught classes and did plumbing side work and taught privates and trained and fought and did my own sponsorship for two years.

“I couldn’t afford to go to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ tryouts. I tried out for season seven, and I went through some trials. I said, ‘Hey, man, I want to try out for this season 11 and do it.’ I was sitting there, and a guy named Will, he agreed to help me out. I wasn’t worried about getting there. I had enough money to get there, but the money I would have lost when I was there, he said he would take care of. He ended up paying for both.”

McGee’s hard work and dedication paid for the rest.

McGee was actually eliminated during the “TUF” season after dropping a decision to Nick Ring. UFC president Dana White disagreed with the call, and he put McGee back in the competition when Rich Attonito was forced out due to injury.

McGee proved White’s intuitions correct.

“I feel like I earned my spot,” McGee said. “What we are is fighters. You go through some wicked emotions. You don’t make a lot of money. Until you make it here, I know guys that fight just as hard as me that ain’t making anything, still working full-time. That’s where I was at. I give props to anybody who’s a professional fighter that fights to do it and fights for a living.

“You can’t question somebody’s heart that’s a fighter. You were born that way. You were born a fighter.”

In McCray, McGee fought someone who had also been ousted from the competition but used a second chance to qualify for the finals. The first-ever “TUF” wild-card, McCray brought a solid ground-and-pound attack to the cage.

McGee said he initially envisioned taking advantage of McCray on the feet, but the Utah native ending up controlling the fight through his superior takedown attack.

“[McCray] surprised me,” McGee said. “He definitely was a lot more clean and improved a lot coming in here. He caught me a couple of times. He’s strong, too. That’s one of his attributes is that he’s a strong guy. I was a strong guy, too, and it just so happened that I was able to get inside and get the takedown.

“That’s not really how I visualized it. I try not to visualize it too much, but our gameplan was to hit and move, hit and move, hit and move, then when he shot or went to a bodylock, defend and take advantage of that. That’s not what happened. You never can predict, and you never know with small gloves. Sometimes the guy with the will to win works. It’s not always the best, most technical guy.”

McGee’s will to win rivals that of any fighter. It’s a drive honed through years of struggle in his personal life, and McGee’s emotions caught up with him during a tear-filled in-cage speech.

But just as McGee took pride in fulfilling a dream hatched years ago and envisioned months ago in a bathtub, the “next ultimate fighter” had no shame in his reaction.

“When I broke up like that, that’s seven years all in one minute,” McGee said. “I dedicate that fight to anybody that’s struggled. If you come from where I came from to where I’m at today, you would have been the same way.

“Something my mom and dad taught me since I was a small child was to always work hard and never give up on your dreams. That’s exactly what I did.”

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